


Charlie White (and Meryl Davis) Gets the Girl

by cp035



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot, Third Wheels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 16:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1517591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cp035/pseuds/cp035
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're a team- through everything and anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charlie White (and Meryl Davis) Gets the Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Another request from Tumblr! This one is a little bit of a flashback to a few years ago. 
> 
> I thought it would be kind of interesting to write Tanith in, since apparently they're all friends...but this still has a very slight Meryl/Charlie shipping vibe. 
> 
> There's absolutely no Tanith bashing, though- it's more of an unrequited love thing. 
> 
> I kind of wrote this in a weird, kind of stream of conciousness style, too. It reads a little weird, I guess, so if you don't like it, just say so in the comments! Hope you guys enjoy it, though!

Meryl heard it from Evan, who heard it from Emily, who heard it from Fedor, who heard it from Tessa, who heard it from some Novice pairs skaters waiting for their blades to be sharpened.

 

Charlie had scored a _date._

 

Not just any old date with some girl at school or _yuck_ \- a barista from Canton's only Starbucks down the street.

 

Charlie had a date with Tanith Belbin, Olympic Silver Medalist and the closest thing to Ice Dance Beyonce you would ever see in Michigan.

 

Marina was more like Ice Dance Cher.  _Igor?_ Totally Ice Dance Rod Stewart. Kind of because the radio always put Cher and Rod Stewart together, like Marina and Igor.

 

Tanith was _awesome._ If she and Meryl hadn't been friends, Meryl wouldn't have minded Tanith punching her in the face, movie reference _very much_ intended.

 

" _Holy shit._ ", she stage-whispered, as Evan nodded along slowly.

 

Charlie could barely plan to do his own laundry. He was gonna need _a lot_ of help if he was going to be the Level One Best Friend who blew away a Level Two Best Friend.

 

(if it was any consolation to either Charlie or Tanith, when Meryl mapped this all out, her younger brother was only a Level Four. The kid had a big mouth, unfortunately, and he liked to take her car out for joyrides.)

 

First, _transportation._ Charlie's car was a mess and smelled like old socks, wet dog, and McDonald's, with a heavy air freshener layered over top. If he and Meryl didn't carpool so often, she would have straight-up vomited into his glove compartment. She counted cleaning Charlie's car as her Tridelta Cares Monthly Charity Project, though the rest of the girls would only know it as " _Provided vehicle assistance for high-needs persons_ ".

 

Charlie wasn't plural, but he made at least enough mess for a whole family. Besides, it doubled as their weekly unofficial partner bonding activity. Apparently, Charlie had some hilarious stories behind the disgusting crap she would find scattered all over his trunk, and being barely over five feet tall made it easier for Meryl to get the vacuum into those tricky places, where she knew Tanith would look to see if Charlie was _really_ a guy who had his stuff together.

 

"Looks good! Thanks, Meryl!", Charlie called, once she deemed the car's interior to be satisfactory.

 

Then, he threw his open hockey bag in the back seat, and held the door open for DJ to jump inside. "I'm just going over to the rink for a pick-up game with Scott! D'you wanna come, or I could give you a ride home?"

 

It took years of practiced restraint to keep her from kicking him where it would hurt right then and there. Didn't he understand that girls _cared_ about how a guy kept his car?

 

" _I'll walk,_ thanks, Charlie.", Meryl said, suppressing an eyeroll. Of all the time he could read her mind, why wasn't _this_ one of them?

 

"Hey, that's cool. I mean, it's a really nice day. Maybe you'll get a tan.", he teased.

 

So she'd have to call it a draw on his car.

 

Next, _the venue_. Charlie was a meat and potatoes kind of guy. The classiest place he went out of his volition was the Bloomfield Hills Applebee's, though if his Mom made reservations, Charlie would eat just about anything. So, fusion was good. Something… _Asian_ , to show he was cultured, but not too fancy, to show he could be gritty, too.

 

_A reclaimed fusion restaurant in a gentrified Detroit neighbourhood?_

 

 _That's_ what they were doing.

 

Meryl had neatly played the " _my dad is a lawyer with very important clients_ " card just in time to score Charlie and Tanith balcony reservations and unlimited bottle service. Not that she'd asked for that, of course. If Charlie dared come to their practice hungover and leave her to deal with Marina and Igor on her own, she'd make him regret ever even _meeting_ Tanith in the first place. 

 

On second thought, she dialed the restaurant again, and placed an order for their table for some midrange wine which the internet promised her went well with Schezhuan chicken.

 

She didn't want Charlie to look like a big spender, because guys like that were always such jerks in the end.

 

Finally, _the main event._

 

Charlie had to be at practice the next morning. It wasn't like they could do anything too crazy, at least not in public. Plus, Meryl was pretty sure neither of them were into hooking up after the first date, especially when the whole rink would probably have started rumors that they had hooked up _already_ , and on the way there, no less. That left a few options, one of which was ice skating date, which was just _so_ wrong, on so many levels.

 

_The Philharmonic! Of course!_

 

Her family had season tickets in the box, where you could look right down on the timpani in the back and almost feel like you were backstage with the orchestra. Surely, Grandma wouldn't miss the week's passes, which Meryl swiped from behind her grandparents' display of ornate flower vases while reminding her dear old Grandpa that _no_ , _absolutely not_ , Tessa and Scott were _not_ dating, and _no, absolutely not_ , she was _not_ going to give Fedor a second chance.

 

Charlie liked music, and any good college girl who read Teen Vogue (no, she really wasn't too old for it, _thank you very much_ ) knew that girls _loved_ when you could see a guys' passion, and Meryl herself loved when she could see that her date was a kind, considerate, and most importantly, intelligent man.

 

Even if Tanith had picked up anything about the nuance of classical music from years of picking out the songs for her programs, Charlie would make her head spin. She would see just how _incredibly_ well-rounded and accomplished he was, which was crucial to securing a second date with the _awesome_ Tanith Belbin.

 

Meryl and Charlie were a team through thick and thin, after all. 

 

He'd better start _hoping_ she stuck around long enough to plan the wedding, too.

 

* * *

 

The morning after " _The Big Date_ ", as those pesky, romantic, middle-schooler rink rats had dubbed it, Arctic Edge was abuzz with giggles and rumors before Meryl even had her skates laced up for a seven a.m. practice. Tanith herself was doing her best to seem oblivious to it all, flicking through papers on a clipboard of notes Ben had made for her. The corners of her mouth quirked up when she saw Meryl at the bench, skate guards in hand.

 

_"Meryl!"_

 

Meryl's head snapped up. Even though she and Tanith hung out plenty of times outside the rink, there was just that unspoken code that of skating hierarchy at the rink. Right now, she and Charlie were third in the running. There was Tanith and Ben, then Tessa and Scott, and then she and Charlie. It would change soon enough, though. She was hungry to see it change, and Tanith had to know that. 

 

They were still _totally skating sisters for life_ off the ice, though. 

 

"Hi!" _Stay calm_ , Meryl told herself.

 

"Girl talk?"

 

Tanith had leaped over the boards, and kicked back on the bench, resting her clipboard on the space between them.

 

"Um…sure."

 

"Well, as you might have heard, your _amazing_ partner Mr. Charlie White took me out on the town last night. And to celebrate, _we had mind-blowing sex in the pool at Igor's house_.", Tanith laughed, aiming a pointed glare at some of the younger skaters who were clearly behind this rumour as they took to the ice.

 

Meryl giggled in spite of herself.

 

"Charlie's _awesome_. I mean…I know this is gonna sound so weird coming from me, well, _especially_ coming from me, but you're so lucky to have him as your partner, kiddo.", said Tanith. Meryl rolled her eyes.

 

Tanith was all of two years older and a few titles more accomplished. It wasn't that big of a gap, and she and Charlie ~~could~~ _would_ close it soon enough.

 

"Don't laugh at me! I'm serious. He's so…oh my God, I'm gonna start sounding like one of _those_ girls, but…I want it to _work_ with him. He's _amazing._ Did you know he _actually_ keeps the cupholders in his car clean? I already sound so creepy, but you _know_ when a guy has it together-"

 

"By his cupholders! _I know_ , Tanith!" Meryl said, grinning.

 

Tanith was babbling on about all the things she and Charlie had done, her eyes lit with the kind of happiness that made Meryl's heart almost melt.

 

 _Maybe_ she should stop watching all those Disney movies and eating vegan ice cream ( _it was totally healthy, right?_ ) and setting Charlie's dates up perfectly and start returning Fedor's calls after all.

 

Charlie had entered on the opposite side of the rink, a puzzled look on his face while the younger skaters all huddled into small groups and giggled as he walked to one of the benches.

 

Meryl shot him a wink.

 

_Mission accomplished, Charlie._

 

Mission _definitely_ accomplished.

 

And it _wasn't_ a good feeling. 

 


End file.
